GARY GOODMAN is a painter and a poet. His imagery is resoundingly direct, unbothered by artistic self-consciousness and politeness; unrefined, unmannerly yet sensitive. He simply wishes to say ‘hello’ to the world as it passes him by.
photo © Shawn Vinson
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Gary has exhibited his paintings and prints and has performed his poetry around the world: from the frozen wastes of Norway and Alaska down to the warmth of New Zealand and the Southern States of USA. He works from his shed at the end of the garden in Sussex, England. .
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paintings
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gary goodman is not trying to impress anyone with his art
gary goodman is merely saying hello with some drawings" Billy Childish "There is a good deal of the shamanic in Goodman." Professor Michael Tucker "Gary Goodman is driven – his work is elemental, searching, honest." Veronica Travers "Goodman’s paintings, with their fear, their pain, colour, beauty, truth, have touched my soul." Sally Scott "Far from brutal, Goodman’s way of painting is highly poetic…Primitive? Crude? I marvel at his lyricism and beauty." Professor Norbert Lynton |
Bright Enough to Face the Dark Side
Gary Goodman must be tired of people regurgitating the same old story about him. I like to think he might be looking for someone to cut deeper, to say something with more meaning, to ask the question, who the hell does Gary Goodman think he really is!?
The consensus seems to be that Gary inspires comment and drama. His art isn’t something to decorate someone else’s life. His art is about another world born of this world. You might not want to look at his work because it seems forever winter, cold and sad – a world beyond the wardrobe. But in amongst the ice, the barren space and the slices of deep cut red, there is an unbearable attraction, a familiarity to think about: a longing.
I wonder if there is something primeval in these works, something of the world before language and time led us away from the core of ourselves. Do people today think of God as hearts and flowers, whereas Gary shows us God is an earthquake, a hurricane, an aftermath, more powerful than we can possibly imagine…more than we can bear?
Dark Night Bright Day is an exhibition of real power, not respectable, not refined. It has strength in its rawness. Give it some time. Come back and look again. It is easy to dismiss something you can’t face. It’s a challenge to look into another world and be shocked to find there is something to remind you of what’s going on in yours.
-- Mark Canning
Gary Goodman – Everything is Everything (London Centre for Psychotherapy 2011)
“Animals are so like men that sometimes it’s impossible to tell them apart.”
-- K’nyo Mobuto
Here is a selection of work that I‘ve made recently. I’ve been spending much time with my daughters and also taking my dog Darlene out for regular walks on the Downs, in the woods, by the sea; I loved seeing her little doggy face panting and smiling, chasing her ball with wind blowing through her grey hair. We had good times and we’d talk about things. We saw meadowlarks, rabbits and squirrels, and we met some cows. I had intense dreams at night.
One day I saw some horrible kids tormenting a puppy on a lead. I couldn’t do anything as I was in a car, and there was nowhere to stop. I was very upset and wrote a poem about it which ended…
…all you have to do is take some time look into the eyes of any living animal and if you have any warm human blood flowing through your body you wouldn’t ever behave like that
Gary Goodman must be tired of people regurgitating the same old story about him. I like to think he might be looking for someone to cut deeper, to say something with more meaning, to ask the question, who the hell does Gary Goodman think he really is!?
The consensus seems to be that Gary inspires comment and drama. His art isn’t something to decorate someone else’s life. His art is about another world born of this world. You might not want to look at his work because it seems forever winter, cold and sad – a world beyond the wardrobe. But in amongst the ice, the barren space and the slices of deep cut red, there is an unbearable attraction, a familiarity to think about: a longing.
I wonder if there is something primeval in these works, something of the world before language and time led us away from the core of ourselves. Do people today think of God as hearts and flowers, whereas Gary shows us God is an earthquake, a hurricane, an aftermath, more powerful than we can possibly imagine…more than we can bear?
Dark Night Bright Day is an exhibition of real power, not respectable, not refined. It has strength in its rawness. Give it some time. Come back and look again. It is easy to dismiss something you can’t face. It’s a challenge to look into another world and be shocked to find there is something to remind you of what’s going on in yours.
-- Mark Canning
Gary Goodman – Everything is Everything (London Centre for Psychotherapy 2011)
“Animals are so like men that sometimes it’s impossible to tell them apart.”
-- K’nyo Mobuto
Here is a selection of work that I‘ve made recently. I’ve been spending much time with my daughters and also taking my dog Darlene out for regular walks on the Downs, in the woods, by the sea; I loved seeing her little doggy face panting and smiling, chasing her ball with wind blowing through her grey hair. We had good times and we’d talk about things. We saw meadowlarks, rabbits and squirrels, and we met some cows. I had intense dreams at night.
One day I saw some horrible kids tormenting a puppy on a lead. I couldn’t do anything as I was in a car, and there was nowhere to stop. I was very upset and wrote a poem about it which ended…
…all you have to do is take some time look into the eyes of any living animal and if you have any warm human blood flowing through your body you wouldn’t ever behave like that
selected exhibitions
2011 London Centre for Psychotherapy - paintings and prints
Basement Gallery, Boise ID, USA - with Ruth Franklin
2009 Weekend Gallery, Hastings - painting, drawing and printmaking
2008 Zimmer Stewart, Arundel – A View From Inside
2007 HQ Gallery, Lewes- humans who deni their most precious harts & ferocious wild dogs (with Billy Childish)
(with Billy Childish)
2006 Zimmer Stewart, Arundel - New Paintings and Prints
2004 Galleri Apotheket, Stokmarknes, Norway - Private World
Star Gallery, Lewes - Dark Night, Bright Day
Gillingham Library Gallery - Don’t Stop (drawings)
2002 White Gallery, Brighton - Remember a Place
2001 Espace Jacques Prevert, Mers-les-Bains, France - paintings
Shawn Vinson Gallery, Decatur, USA - paintings and prints
2000 Chertsey Museum - Memory Angels
GROUP:
2012 Towner Eastbourne - New Eyes (with Picasso, Paolozzi, Grayson Perry etc)
2011 Curwen Gallery, London - screenprints from Artizan Editions (Bridget Riley, Gerald Laing etc)
2010 Menier Gallery, London - painting and printmaking
2009 Zimmerstewart, Arundel - Print show (with Peter Doig, Chapman Bros, Paula Rego, Gavin Turk etc)
Foundry Gallery,Lewes - Wonderland (with Helen Turner and Nick Marsh)
Montcrieff-Bray, Sussex - C’mon Give us a Kiss (with Roy Oxlade, Georgia Hayes, Rose Wylie, John Skinner, Emily Ball etc)
2007 Shawn Vinson , Atlanta, USA - Impressed (Prints by MC Escher, Gary Goodman, Anne Desmet, Chris Pig, Fernando Feijoo)
2005 Royal College of Art, London - The Hunting Art Prizes
Minerva Theatre Gallery, Chichester - The Chichester Open
2004 Mall Gallery, London - The Discerning Eye (guest artist of Prof Norbert Lynton)
Corridor Gallery, London - Blue : emotional undercurrents and shadows of landscapes
2003 Old Truman Brewery, London - Prospects Contemporary Drawing Exhibition
2002 Charleston Farmhouse Gallery - Private Worlds (3D work by 5 artists inc. Quentin Bell)
Towner Gallery, Eastbourne - Selected Work from SEArts Permanent Collection
2001 Art First, Cork St., London - Starting a Collection
1999 Maltby Contemporary Art, Winchester - Full Spectrum
Black Swan Guild, Frome - Brighton Up (pt II)
Ede’s House, Chichester - the Chichester Open ‘99
There is a good deal of the shamanic in Goodman.’
Prof Michael Tucker
‘Gary Goodman is driven - his work is elemental, searching, honest. ‘
Veronica Travers
‘gary goodman belongs to a rare breed of artist’s who find freedom through limitation -
gary goodman values art over egotism’
Billy Childish
‘Goodman’s paintings, with their fear, their pain, colour, beauty, truth, have touched my soul.’
Sally Scott
‘Far from brutal, Goodman’s way of painting is highly poetic’.
Prof Norbert Lynton
2011 London Centre for Psychotherapy - paintings and prints
Basement Gallery, Boise ID, USA - with Ruth Franklin
2009 Weekend Gallery, Hastings - painting, drawing and printmaking
2008 Zimmer Stewart, Arundel – A View From Inside
2007 HQ Gallery, Lewes- humans who deni their most precious harts & ferocious wild dogs (with Billy Childish)
(with Billy Childish)
2006 Zimmer Stewart, Arundel - New Paintings and Prints
2004 Galleri Apotheket, Stokmarknes, Norway - Private World
Star Gallery, Lewes - Dark Night, Bright Day
Gillingham Library Gallery - Don’t Stop (drawings)
2002 White Gallery, Brighton - Remember a Place
2001 Espace Jacques Prevert, Mers-les-Bains, France - paintings
Shawn Vinson Gallery, Decatur, USA - paintings and prints
2000 Chertsey Museum - Memory Angels
GROUP:
2012 Towner Eastbourne - New Eyes (with Picasso, Paolozzi, Grayson Perry etc)
2011 Curwen Gallery, London - screenprints from Artizan Editions (Bridget Riley, Gerald Laing etc)
2010 Menier Gallery, London - painting and printmaking
2009 Zimmerstewart, Arundel - Print show (with Peter Doig, Chapman Bros, Paula Rego, Gavin Turk etc)
Foundry Gallery,Lewes - Wonderland (with Helen Turner and Nick Marsh)
Montcrieff-Bray, Sussex - C’mon Give us a Kiss (with Roy Oxlade, Georgia Hayes, Rose Wylie, John Skinner, Emily Ball etc)
2007 Shawn Vinson , Atlanta, USA - Impressed (Prints by MC Escher, Gary Goodman, Anne Desmet, Chris Pig, Fernando Feijoo)
2005 Royal College of Art, London - The Hunting Art Prizes
Minerva Theatre Gallery, Chichester - The Chichester Open
2004 Mall Gallery, London - The Discerning Eye (guest artist of Prof Norbert Lynton)
Corridor Gallery, London - Blue : emotional undercurrents and shadows of landscapes
2003 Old Truman Brewery, London - Prospects Contemporary Drawing Exhibition
2002 Charleston Farmhouse Gallery - Private Worlds (3D work by 5 artists inc. Quentin Bell)
Towner Gallery, Eastbourne - Selected Work from SEArts Permanent Collection
2001 Art First, Cork St., London - Starting a Collection
1999 Maltby Contemporary Art, Winchester - Full Spectrum
Black Swan Guild, Frome - Brighton Up (pt II)
Ede’s House, Chichester - the Chichester Open ‘99
There is a good deal of the shamanic in Goodman.’
Prof Michael Tucker
‘Gary Goodman is driven - his work is elemental, searching, honest. ‘
Veronica Travers
‘gary goodman belongs to a rare breed of artist’s who find freedom through limitation -
gary goodman values art over egotism’
Billy Childish
‘Goodman’s paintings, with their fear, their pain, colour, beauty, truth, have touched my soul.’
Sally Scott
‘Far from brutal, Goodman’s way of painting is highly poetic’.
Prof Norbert Lynton
